25 April 2013

A Tale Of Two Scarboroughs: From Rabid Gun Rights Crusader To Gun Control Advocate

By Jeff Poor of The Daily Caller

Over the past four months, former Florida Republican Rep. Joe
Scarborough has used his “Morning Joe” program on MSNBC as a platform to
be an outspoken critic of the National Rifle Association and anyone
else standing in the way of what he calls “common-sense” gun control
legislation.

On more than one occasion over the past month, Scarborough has accused NRA-loyal Republicans of putting the interests of “rapists” ahead of other Americans.

“I can’t believe those Republicans are going to allow the entire
Republican Party to be the party that basically put rapists’ rights over
parents’ rights to keep their kids safe when they go to school,”
Scarborough said on his April 8 program.

Scarborough submitted two versions of the same questionnaire in 1994
because the first was apparently misplaced. TheDC has obtained both.

“The NRA must elect
& support candidates who will view the gun rights issue as a
constitutional battle. The
founding fathers did not give us the 2nd Amendment to protect
our rights to shoot ducks. Our constitutional right to bear arms is so
we may protect our family in the manner we choose. No compromise!”

- Joe Scarborough wrote on a 1994 questionnaire

The year of his first round of questionnaires, 1994, was the same
year California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced the Federal
Assault Weapons Ban. Then-President Bill Clinton would sign that
legislation into law on Sept. 13, 1994, creating a nationwide ban that
would last for a decade on manufacturing military-looking firearms.

But just weeks before, Scarborough told the NRA that his personal
definition of an “assault weapon” was “anything the government would
deny the people from protecting themselves against the government” and
“anything the government would fear the people could use to protect
their rights.”

Aug. 23, 1994:

Sept. 2, 1994:

And despite his modern day support for background checks, in 2000,
then-Rep. Joe Scarborough was, without qualification, a full-throated
opponent to expanding federal background checks.

Among the three available multiple-choice answers, Scarborough
circled, “I believe that gun sales by private citizens who are not
engaged in an ongoing firearm business should not be subject to federal
background check requirements, whether the sales take place at a gun
show or elsewhere, as is the present practice. If elected, I would
oppose further legislation.”

Also in that survey, Scarborough sided with the NRA by opposing
federal limits on magazine capacity, licensing requirements from a
government agency to “buy and/or own” a firearm, firearm registration
and bans on certain types of ammo including “armor-piercing” ammunition.